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Best of Times, Worst of Times: Deana Martin

Deana Martin, 59, a singer and actress, recalls a childhood scarred by both the lavish lifestyle of her father, Dean Martin — then at the peak of his Hollywood career — and by her mother Betty’s alcoholism

I can vividly recall standing, aged nine, in the foyer of my father's Beverly Hills mansion with my two older sisters. Next to us were cardboard boxes - Claudia's, Gail's, mine - into which our mother had hurriedly pushed our clothes. Jeanne, my father's new wife, picked over our stuff with her pretty pink nails, deciding what could come into the house and what would be thrown away. She was tiny and blonde-haired and blue-eyed, and she wore pressed slacks and white sneakers that were always perfect. The exact opposite of my mom. It's an image that still makes me cry.

Mom had been pregnant with me when Dad met Jeanne, so I never knew what it was like to have him at home. Already successful by then, he gave Mom money - $60,000 cash and $3,600-a-month alimony - and she tried to keep it together. To begin with we had a big, beautiful